Le Pen: EU Elections in France ‘A Referendum on Emmanuel Macron’

Populist French MP Marine Le Pen has called for President Emmanuel Macron to resign from his post if he is not able to secure a victory for his La Republique En Marche (LREM) movement in this month’s European Parliament elections.

The Rassemblement National (RN) leader made her comments in response to those of Macron, who said that he would be putting his full energy into ensuring an LREM victory later this month, LCI reports.

“So it becomes a referendum for or against Emmanuel Macron, this European election. I accept that, but in these conditions, he must do as General De Gaulle: if he loses this election, then he will have to leave,” Le Pen said, adding: “the President of the Republic… is today a party leader and even a campaign manager.”

“He behaves, once again, as the president of a movement, he puts aside tens of millions of French to whom he does not speak anymore, he no longer considers,” she said.

Macron made his initial comments while on a visit to Romania for a European summit saying that voters should consider any option except the populist RN.

The president’s comments also come after a shock poll revealed the RN to be slightly ahead of his LREM late last month, at 24 per cent to Macron’s 21 per cent.

While Le Pen commands attention as party leader, she is not the leading candidate for the RN for the European Parliament elections. The party chose 23-year-old Jordan Bardella, dubbed by some as the “crown prince” of the party, to lead their election efforts.

Bardella expressed his own vision regarding the European Union earlier this year, saying, “we are going to fight to go to the European Commission to reclaim our four levers of sovereignty that are to us essential — our borders, economic and legislative sovereignty, and budget control.”